Why not just install a bypass switch. That way you won't damage anything when
fully
charged and it you start to lose energy, flip the switch. You could also flip
the
switch when starting.
Craig
Gregory_Schulz@mil-elect-tool.com wrote:
> I've just redone the ignition system on my vintage 58 Sprite. Put on a Mallory
> dual-point distributor and a Mallory coil as well. A note found in the coil
>box
> stated that OEM resistors should not be removed or bypassed when the Mallory
> coil is installed. It went on to say that even if the vehicle doesn't have an
> OEM resistor by design, one should be installed. That's Mallory's 2 cents...
> probably generic advice for performance street cars.
>
> A point made earlier about the ballast resistor being necessary to drop the
> normal (alternator) voltage level of 15V or so down closer to the 12V
> requirement of the ignition system sounded right to me. If you're running a
>12V
> system (no alternator) and throw a ballast resistor into the mix, your
>ignition
> system may only be running at a fraction of design output. A professor in a DC
> course told me that a 12V ignition system will refuse to function when the
>coil
> voltage reaches 9.2V. To me, 9.2 V is not that far away if you're dropping
> (losing) voltage through a ballast resistor in a battery-powered system that's
> continuously being discharged.
>
> BTW, for anyone depending on a Group 24C battery in their racer: a fully
>charged
> battery - per the industry standards for 24C's - will last approximately 80
> minutes with no other current draw other than the ignition system. Of course
>an
> engine start-up or two, or a couple periods of sustained idling on the grid
> reduces that 80 minutes substantially.
>
> That's why I wonder how much margin for error there really is. If you have
>your
> original 12V being reduced by the voltage drop (through the ballast resistor)
> and that reduced voltage level is constantly decaying to a degree (no
> alternator), and your ignition goes silent at 9.2 V, and maybe your voltmeter
>on
> the instrument panel is 'a tad bit' off... I don't know - I'm going home and
> pull-off that resistor!
>
> G. Schulz in WI
> 58 Sprite (vintage)
> 82 Vette (street)
>
> MHKitchen@aol.com on 04/28/99 12:14:24 PM
>
> Please respond to MHKitchen@aol.com
>
> To: simon@mondes.com
> cc: brian@uunet.ca, vintage-race@autox.team.net (bcc: Gregory
> Schulz/MED/IT/ATLAS COPCO)
>
> Subject: Re: Sprite question/Ignitions
>
> In a message dated 4/28/99 10:11:40 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
> simon@mondes.com writes:
>
> << All those second-order differential equations I hated
> in college DO have an application. ;=)
> >>
>
> Ouch....my brain hurts!!!
> Myles
--
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craig@p-d-g.com 4635 Viewridge Ave.
(619) 569-3484 x309 San Diego, CA 92123
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